Whumptober 2019 - 08 - Stab Wound
by DinerGuy
Summary: 2018 reboot. Stranded in the middle of nowhere with Higgins bleeding out, Magnum's trying his best, but no one knows where they are. Her only chance may be something he knows the agonizing trauma of firsthand.


_A/N: This one's rated a little higher for injury reasons... Nothing graphic, but just a heads up that it's a bit more intense than my other Whumptober fills have been... so far._

_Also, I did some research for parts of this, but it was kind of hard to fully figure the exact real-life science behind it all, so I just rewatched clips of the season one premiere a bunch of times and then ran with it._

_Standard disclaimers apply._

* * *

"Higgins!"

Even past the ringing in her ears, she could hear her name as Magnum scrambled across the small room to her side. Her breath was coming in quick gasps as every heartbeat seemed to send bursts of pain spiraling up her leg and through her chest.

"Mag… Magnum," she gulped. She felt him pushing her hands away from her right leg, covering the wound with his own hands. He pushed down, _ hard, _and she cried out, her back arching at the agony the pressure brought with it.

"Hey, look at me," Magnum coaxed. "Come on. That's it."

She coughed and tried to hold his gaze, blinking hard against the fuzzy feeling clouding her head. She was losing blood quickly, she knew that; she could feel the life literally pumping out of her, could feel herself growing slowly weaker.

The knife must have hit an artery; that was the only explanation. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to force away the images flooding through her memory. Their suspect jumping her while she checked out the back room of the old cabin. The weapon glinting in the man's hand. The struggle when she thought she saw an opening. Falling to the ground. The white-hot agony as the blade slid into her thigh, then more as he yanked it back out. Him drawing back for another blow as she readied herself to grab his hands on the down-swing. And then the loud report of a gun, once, twice, as the man staggered and then fell backward.

"Higgins!"

The worry in the voice pulled her eyes back open, and she looked up at Magnum's face hovering somewhere above hers. She licked her lips, trying to form the words to reassure him, but nothing came.

"Stay with me; come on!" Magnum pressed down again, and she barely muffled the sound of pain that forced itself out of her chest at the pressure. Something crossed Magnum's face at her choking cry, and he glanced from her face to her injured limb and then back again. "Hey, there we go." He held her gaze and gave her a tight smile.

She swallowed. "I… I'm bleeding out." Nothing like stating the obvious.

The look on his face told her she was right.

"Tourniquet?" she asked quietly, searching his gaze. She wasn't exactly keen on the idea; one particularly nasty mission in Ukraine years before had given her firsthand knowledge of just how painful they were. But if it was between that and dying of blood loss…

He shook his head. "Too risky. You…" He trailed off and bit his lip, then turned his attention back to her leg.

"What?" She clenched her jaw. "Magnum, I told you before… It doesn't matter what… what it is or how bad it is" —she coughed again— "I want to know the truth."

In response, Magnum clenched his jaw and sighed. "Neither of us have phone service, remember? And then we're at least forty-five minutes from the nearest hospital, no one even knows where we are, and…" He trailed off and glanced away, then looked back to her, eyes full of regret. "And you can't walk, but I… I can't carry you to where we left the car… I'm so sorry, Higgy…"

Why couldn't—and then her eyes flickered over him and caught on a large patch of blood on his shirt, just under his right arm, and the gash along his hairline. "Are you—?"

"Don't worry about me. Hey, hey, come on. Don't fall asleep on me, Higgins. _ Higgins!" _

Oh, she must have closed her eyes again. She blinked and then frowned at the way everything seemed so blurry and far away.

She thought she heard the sound of her name—again—but, this time, she couldn't bring herself to obey the command. Her eyes were just too heavy, her head too light, and she felt herself drifting away but didn't have the strength to fight it…

It felt like she was drifting through a fog, hovering just too far out of reach to respond to anything happening around her. She could sometimes hear what was going on, hear Magnum's voice, feel his hands still firmly on her right thigh, but she couldn't reply, couldn't even try to push away the hands that she knew were there to help her but were still causing a constant agony all the same.

Magnum sounded more and more desperate each time he called her name or tried to coax her back to consciousness, and she thought she might care if she could just find the energy to do so.

Suddenly, the pressure on her leg let up, and she tried to reach for where she knew her stab wound must be bleeding again, but she barely felt her hands flutter in response to the command from her mind. There was movement beside her, then something wrapped around her leg and then tightened quickly and sharply—so much so that she felt herself involuntarily gasping at the fire that shot through her.

"Shh, shh; it's okay." She could hear Magnum beside her, feel his hand on her shoulder, even as the fresh waves of pain from whatever he'd done to her leg flooded through her and pulled her back into the fog.

She didn't know how much time had passed before she felt a hand on her cheek.

Again, Magnum's voice came from beside her, cracking with guilt as he spoke. "I'm so, so sorry, Higgy. I really am."

She wondered what he had to be so apologetic about.

Something was forced into her mouth, and she vaguely realised it was a piece of cloth twisted into some semblance of a roll. She briefly panicked as it was tucked between her teeth, on top of her tongue, and she thought she might be sick.

A moment later, there was a strange sensation on her leg, and then she felt a larger hand slide into hers. It squeezed tightly, and she heard Magnum apologising yet again.

And then… _ Ohhh, _ and then it felt like the whole world exploded.

Higgins' eyes flew open wide, zeroing in on the dim ceiling above her. Her legs kicked in instinctive response, and she felt something press down on them quickly while something else reached across her chest to hold her down. She heard a scream echoing through the room, only realising it was her own when her throat felt ragged and burnt by the sound that was torn from it.

Gasping and choking, she lay back, panting as the shock and exertion drained every ounce of whatever adrenaline-fueled energy her body had been able to find.

"Higgy? Hey, I'm here. It's gonna be okay. You're okay now."

Her eyes darted to the side where Magnum was watching her. His hand was still in hers, still squeezing, and the fact that she was squeezing his right back suddenly registered with her.

"Here, let me take that for you." His hand moved to her face.

When she felt him tugging at the cloth in her mouth, she realised how tightly her jaw had clamped around it. It disappeared from between her teeth, and she coughed again, feeling how dry her mouth was now.

"I'm sorry, Higgy," he apologised again, his hand on her cheek again, then wiping her forehead. He brushed several stray strands of hair from her face. "I'm so sorry."

But she barely heard his words. Her world was once again spinning, and she was sliding back into senselessness. This time, she didn't even feel the fog closing in around her or feel herself drifting. She was unconscious before her head had even dropped to the side.

* * *

Racing to the cabin, Rick and T.C. told themselves they were ready for whatever they would find there. Whatever had happened, they would do what needed to be done and rescue Magnum and Higgins. They'd seen a lot in their years in the service, and they'd seen plenty enough to last them for a lifetime in those eighteen-plus months in the POW camp. So, whatever they would find, they were ready for it.

But the sight that greeted them once inside was enough to make them second-guess what they'd resolved while in the helicopter.

There was a body outside of the cabin, some stranger with a bullet wound that told the tale of how he'd met his demise. There was a gun a few yards away, as if someone had kicked it from the fallen man's hand, and they both knew instinctively their friends had been there.

With deep breaths, they both lifted their own weapons and moved slowly up the stairs and toward the door. Rick mouthed a countdown, then threw it open and they both rushed inside—and pulled up short.

There was blood _ everywhere, _ and three bodies were lying on the rough wooden floor. The one closest to them was a man they'd never seen before but the other two—the two crumpled side-by-side—were heartbreakingly familiar.

Rick forced himself to stoop to feel the first body for a pulse, then shook his head when he found none. Then he followed T.C. and rushed for where their friends were lying next to each other.

At first glance, it seemed like the worst had happened, like they were too late. Neither Magnum nor Higgy were moving, and Rick and T.C. could see the blood smeared on the floor around them, that had soaked their clothes and hands and smudged their faces. Thomas had apparently taken off his shirt in an attempt to help Higgins, and torn strips of it lay around the two of them.

Rick and T.C. hardly dared to breathe as they felt for a pulse on each of their friends, and the relief was palpable as they both looked up and let out a breath.

"He's alive," T.C. sighed, even as he started searching Thomas for injuries.

Rick nodded tightly. "Same, thank God, but her pulse is really weak." He didn't like how slow and fluttery it seemed. Shaking his head, he surveyed her pale face. "What happened to you, Jules?" He gently ran his hands over her torso, prodding for any signs of injury, and then he moved to check her legs—and froze. "T.C…"

Glancing over, the other man blinked, his eyes going wide as he and Rick looked up to share the shocked realization. The only other time they'd seen that sort of a wound was a time they very much wanted to forget. It brought back memories of a hot, dirty prison, watching through the bars as Nuzo leaned over a bleeding-out Thomas…

And then something caught Rick's eye, and he took in the way the pistol was lying on the floor beside his friends. Its magazine had been ejected and Magnum's pocketknife lay on the floor by one of the rounds. The bullet had been pulled from the casing, and Rick didn't even have to touch it to know where the gunpowder had gone.

"He cauterized her leg," T.C. said breathlessly, and Rick quickly looked over to find his friend had followed his gaze.

Rick nodded and swallowed. "We have to get them to a hospital," he said firmly, clearing his throat at the rough catch in his voice. "Now."

They both knew there was no time to waste waiting for medevac, and T.C. didn't argue. He simply nodded and moved to scoop Thomas up from the floor, doing his best to mind the injury in his friend's side. Trusting that T.C. had Thomas, Rick put a hand under Higgins' back and one under her legs, then adjusted her weight, pushed to his feet, and strode for the door as quickly as his legs would take him.

She didn't even moan at the pain he knew the movement was causing her, and his heart clenched. He had thought he was ready for anything, but the reality was so much harsher than he'd expected.

They hadn't even been sure what they'd find when they arrived at the cabin. All they knew was that Magnum and Higgins had followed a lead there earlier in the day. But that wasn't so much knowledge as an educated guess based on the evidence they were able to locate on the laptop left open on the guesthouse table. The most they could do was check out the lead and hope it led them to their missing friends. And now they'd found them, but…

No. Rick clenched his jaw. No, he wouldn't let himself think of what could have happened. What mattered was they'd found Magnum and Higgy, and everything was going to be okay now.

* * *

All things considered, the doctors told the small group gathered in the waiting room, both patients were incredibly lucky.

Higgins had lost a lot of blood, nearly more than her small frame could handle, and that had taken its toll on her besides the trauma her body had endured. Magnum had fared only a little better; he'd suffered a concussion from a blow to the head and lost a good amount of blood himself from the bullet in his side, not to mention how stress and exertion had made it worse. No one was even sure how he'd managed to keep going long enough to perform the crude, emergency first aid on Higgins, but the doctors said if he hadn't… well, if not, she wouldn't have needed the hospital by the time she'd been found.

The doctors were now "cautiously optimistic," even considering everything that had happened. Now it was just a matter of waiting for Higgins and Magnum to decide to wake up.

And wait their friends did, taking turns between the two rooms; no one wanted to leave in case something happened while they were gone.

Higgins half-woke several times over the course of the next two days. Each time, though, she sank back into unconsciousness. Her friends would see her eyes start to flutter or even manage to open for a few moments and sit forward, grabbing her hand and calling her name, but she couldn't make herself answer them or stay awake. Her eyes would soon slid closed again, and the others could do nothing but continue to wait.

Magnum came to about an hour after he'd been wheeled out of surgery, but he tired quickly and soon drifted back off to sleep. It wasn't until the next morning that he fully woke up and was able to focus on Rick next to his bedside.

"Welcome back, buddy," Rick smiled, reaching for the call button as he smiled in relief.

His friend blinked at Rick for a moment, then his face filled with an unreadable emotion and his eyes widened. "Hig… Higgy?" he asked, his voice weak and rasping.

Rick swallowed and put a hand on Thomas's arm. "She's okay. She's safe." The relief that washed over his friend's expression was immediate and tangible, and Rick felt something clench in his own chest. "You saved her, you know. The doctors said she wouldn't have made it without you."

"But I…" Thomas shook his head. "Rick, I had to…"

"I know," Rick jumped in when his friend trailed off. "You did good, T.M. You did good."

* * *

The room was dim and quiet when Higgins slowly opened her eyes. She could remember brief flashes of consciousness from the past… she wasn't sure how long. But this felt different. She felt a tiny bit stronger, even if she still felt incredibly weak, and she thought she could maybe manage to stay awake a little longer this time.

She shifted her head to look beside her, knowing that Kumu, Rick, or T.C. would be there just like they had been every time she'd woken since the cabin. They were always quick to smile at her, to grab her hand, to reassure her everything was okay even as she slid back into the darkness.

But, this time, it was Magnum. Higgins slowly took in the wheelchair he occupied, a light blanket tucked around his lap. He had been watching the machine next to her bed, but his attention immediately jumped to her as she moved against her pillows.

"Hey," he said quietly, moving to roll his chair a little closer to her bed.

She managed a small smile. "Hey."

His eyes searched her face. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Pausing to consider the question, she swallowed and evaluated her situation. The drugs the doctors had undoubtedly put her on were making everything a dull haze, and she could just barely feel the throbbing pressure of pain in her right leg when she tried to move her feet. She winced. "I've felt better. What… what happened?"

Magnum's face softened. "What do you remember?"

She paused again, trying to think back past the fog. "We… we were on a case… we got jumped…" The images came back to her all at once, and she gasped at the sudden rush of memories. The machines beside her bed started beeping in alarm as her heart rate spiked. The fight, the knife, the pain… all clear as day.

"Hey, hey." Magnum's hand was in hers then. "Hey, it's okay. Shh."

With a small cough as she finally managed to catch her breath, she looked back over to him. "How… I was bleeding out," she whispered. It was so clear in her mind, the way she'd felt herself growing steadily weaker, and she wasn't sure why she had survived to have this conversation. Then her eyes widened. "What… what did you do? It felt like fire," she added as the agonising memory returned.

She could see Magnum swallow and glance away before looking back to her, his face tight with emotion.

"I'm sorry, Higgy… I didn't have a choice." He shook his head. "You were going to die if I didn't, and I couldn't get you to the car. I… I tried, but I just couldn't."

His hand was still in hers, so she squeezed it ever so slightly. "Hey, but you got me through it," she said softly. She wasn't sure what had happened, but it had apparently affected him more than he wanted to let on.

He sighed and then looked back to her. "When we were being held, Nuzo saved my life more than once," he started.

She tilted her head at the change of subject but didn't say anything. There had to be a reason for the story-telling.

"I'd done something stupid again, tried to get at a guard's weapon, and I… well, they left me bleeding out in the dirt," he continued. "We'd been hoarding items when we got our hands on them, stuff like bullets… and lighters. There was no way to stop the bleeding with where it was…" He trailed off again and absently rubbed at his stomach, just near his ribcage, and Higgins suddenly remembered the pucker of a scar there that she'd seen a few times.

"He used the gunpowder to cauterise the wound," Magnum continued, his voice thick with the emotion of the memory.

Her breath caught in her chest at the realisation of why he was telling her the story. "That's how you stopped me from bleeding out," she said softly. "You did the same thing."

He nodded. "Higgins, I… I tried everything, I swear. But it just wouldn't stop, and I had to do something…"

"Hey." She caught his eyes when he looked back to her. "You absolutely had to do it, Magnum. You didn't have a choice."

At her words, his face softened a little. "I'm sorry. I wish—"

She shook her head and grabbed his hand a little more tightly. "Don't apologise. You saved my life, Magnum. Thank you."

As he looked back to her, relief filling his expression, the door to the room swung open and a nurse stepped in. She smiled when she saw Higgins awake and talking to Magnum and quickly moved over to start asking questions and taking down information from the machines.

Their conversation had been interrupted for now, but Higgins looked over to where Magnum had rolled himself backward to get out from underfoot as the nurse bustled around the bed. Higgins gave him as reassuring of a smile as she could manage, even though she felt it falter when the nurse put a blood pressure cuff on her arm and started to tighten it.

She hoped her meaning came across in her expression because she could tell Magnum felt guilty about what he'd done to her while they were in the cabin. But she had meant exactly what she'd said. He'd had to do it, and she was infinitely grateful for it—just as she was grateful for friends who would do whatever they had to do to keep her safe.

She was beyond lucky to have them in her life.

* * *

_Fin._


End file.
